


My dearest friend

by Piexe



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, My First Fanfic, One Shot, Short One Shot, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26836009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piexe/pseuds/Piexe
Summary: Kuvira writes a love letter to Korra that she'll never send. A short piece written for Korvira week 2020, Day 1: Longing.
Relationships: Korra/Kuvira (Avatar)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32





	My dearest friend

**Author's Note:**

> This is heavily inspired by one of my favorite sapphic songs, Jenny by Studio Killers. The song is about a girl in love with her best friend (oof). I used many of the lyrics in this piece. It takes place 1 year after the events of ROTE. Kuvira and Korra have become close friends in that time, but Kuvira wants more. My first fic ever, so I'd appreciate feedback! :)

A soft, yellow-orange glow bathed Kuvira as she sat at the small desk in her dim Zaofu bedroom one night. It was late, very late, and she was the kind of tired that makes one do silly, stupid things, like write a love letter to the Avatar. Tonight marked one year living in Zaofu after her unlikely redemption at the heels of Guam’s mind-control escapade.

Being back in Zaofu felt both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, like wearing an old pair of boots dyed a new color. Unfamiliar, like the feeling in her gut whenever the Avatar paid Kuvira a diplomatic visit – butterflies that Kuvira had dismissed until they became impossible to ignore. Unfamiliar, like the bizarre friendship that had blossomed between Korra and Kuvira during the 12-or-so visits since her trial. Familiar, though, like the many nights Kuvira had spent just like this even before her stint as the Great Uniter: alone at a desk, unable to sleep, with only her thoughts and the crickets to listen to.

On nights like that, Kuvira had always lulled herself to sleep by writing and writing until she was bored. Tonight, she sat writing a letter to Korra that she’d never send.

She put the pen to paper: _Korra, darling, you’re my best friend…_

That’s pathetic.

_…but there’s a few things that you don’t know._

Like the fact that one of Korra’s white tank tops went missing, or that the tank top was now in Kuvira’s possession, or that Kuvira really had no intentions of returning it. Korra didn’t know that Kuvira had a nighttime ritual of carefully tugging the shirt over her pillow like a pillowcase and burying her face fitfully into its lingering scent. She also didn’t know about the complementary morning ritual: waking with a clear head, shamefully tearing the shirt off of the pillow, folding it neatly, and vowing to return it.

Her cheeks reddened, but she continued to write, sadistically: _I’ve been doing bad things that you don’t know about. I’ve been stealing your stuff, now and then._

She replayed a memory of when Korra had left her overnight bag at the estate, and Kuvira had been the first to notice. She’d snagged the bag to bring it to Suyin, but not before surreptitiously slipping a tiny blue jar from one of the bag’s pockets.

_It’s nothing you’d miss, but it means the world to me._

Kuvira had seen Korra use this little jar before, watched Korra twist it open, dip a finger into the sweet-smelling translucent pink jelly paste inside, and dab it absentmindedly onto her lips during her visits. Kuvira simply kept the jar as a keepsake at first, shoving it into her desk drawer to hopefully be forgotten. But inevitably the jar is now nearly empty, the lip product used as a supplement to Kuvira’s longing, sinking into her lips every night like a kiss.

_Korra, I don’t know how to say this, because you’re really my dearest friend, but_

The thought of a kiss was a guilty pleasure that drove Kuvira mad, and she let her selfish and embarrassing desires spill out onto the page in big, sloppy letters:

_I want to ruin our friendship. We should be lovers instead._

At that, the sound of her pen scratching the page stopped and silence filled the room again. Then, struck by the inevitable shame of her reminiscing, she grabbed the paper abruptly with a full fist, crumpling it and paying no mind to the fresh wet ink that now stained her usually pristine hands. Kuvira pushed her chair back from the desk in a rush and turned off the lamp. She lay down in her bed on top of the neatly tucked blankets and shut her eyes tight, willing sleep to come and push her selfish fantasies out of her mind.

But of course, sleep wouldn’t come until her nose was buried deeply into the fabric of Korra’s shirt, until her breath was filled with that intoxicating, forbidden scent, until her lips were sealed with that rose-colored balm, and her traitorous heart was satisfied.


End file.
